The Call is Coming From Inside the House: Racism Between BIPOC Communities

We’ve all heard some variation of the saying that “an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.” This quote is frequently used in conversations about violence and revenge, but today we’ll repurpose it to look at racism among Black folks, Indigenous individuals, and people of color (BIPOC).

Before we get to the meat of this conversation, we have to recognize that all of us hold racist thoughts toward one another. It’s not something people like to admit, but because of European colonialism, racist stereotypes are baked into the culture of every country touched by white colonizers. Our world was forever changed by their belief that their skin, their God, and their values were superior to those of our ancestors.

The having of racist thoughts isn’t something we can always control—generations of white supremacy in media, classrooms, and entertainment have impacted us all. However, we do have control over what we do with those thoughts. The goal is to catch a problematic thought and confront it right away: Where did you learn that? Why did it come up now? How is that stereotype destructive to the person or people it centers on?

This becomes harder when the stereotype or thought comes in the form of a weapon. Whatever your race—Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, or otherwise—you’ve likely encountered a fellow BIPOC who buys into racist stereotypes about your culture and uses your every action as proof of that stereotype’s validity. Whether it comes in the form of microaggressions or outright racist behavior, it’s exponentially more upsetting when racism comes from others who should understand your struggle.

Initially, we question the situation: Is this really happening? Are we actually talking too loudly, behaving unprofessionally, or sharing too much information? Is one of our marginalized siblings actually tearing us down? Once it’s confirmed that this is actually what’s happening, the anger and hurt start to build. 

Then, there comes a moment: Do we strike back? Within the BIPOC community, we share similar struggles and we know how to hurt each other with the deepest of cuts. Taking this route only leads to an ongoing race war. We end up confirming destructive stereotypes and perpetuating white supremacy in the process. If we sink to the level of using racial insults, we continue the work that colonizers began so many years ago, taking on the mantle of spreading racism in their absence.

Furthermore, responding to inter-BIPOC racism with more racism creates a situation where we exchange racist insults with one another until… What? How does it end? If “an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind,” pushing back in this way only hurts ourselves and our communities in the end. 

So how do we handle incidents when we encounter racism from other racially marginalized folks? There are two steps: First, we have to make the conscious choice not to respond with more racism. If possible, you can exit the situation, or better yet, call the offender out on their behavior. When calling someone out, ask yourself, “Am I responding to a stereotype or to an actual person?” Your anger and hurt are valid, but they can be addressed without bringing more racism into the mix. 

Second, we have to be open to being called out as well. We all make mistakes and there will be times when we don’t catch or realize the racism in our own behavior or speech and, if someone is willing to call us out in that moment, we have to listen. While our instinct is to respond with defensiveness, that doesn’t help anyone or allow us to grow. Instead, we need to apologize, thank the person for calling us out, and truly listen and internalize what we’ve learned.

It’s impossible to breathe in much of the world without inhaling the subtle racism woven into our cultures by colonization. However, we have the power to start unraveling that mindset by checking ourselves and, when we’re able to, the people around us. By recognizing and challenging the racist stereotypes we’ve been taught, we can do the mindful work of unlearning racism.